Slash and the homestand

So we’ve had quite a week in Dodgertown, both on and, well, on the field.

The team itself has been up and down, with plenty of drama in just 5 home games so far. We’ve had an Opening Day victory, an extra innings defeat, a walk-off win on Jackie Robinson Night, a 10-run onslaught on offense, followed by a 9-0 shutout at the hands of the ‘The Freak’. And Opening Week concluded with a dramatic come from behind win thanks to a pinch-hit home run by the one, the only, Manny Ramirez.

But the action on the field before the game has been just as exciting with appearances by Will.i.am, Leann Rimes, Frank Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Don Newcombe, the American Idol finalists, a former American Idol finalist, Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Peetes (Holly & Rodney) and the one, the only, Slash.

Now I have a few stories to share on all of the above, but ill focus on the rockstar for now. Slash was on hand Friday, April 17th to perform the National Anthem & God Bless America. For those in attendance last fall, Slash did the same during the playoffs in 2009 before Game 2 of the NLDS and thanks to a Matt Holliday error in left, probably because the sounds of Slash’s guitar were still ringing in his ears, the Dodgers went on to win the game and take the series from the Red Birds.

On Friday, before Slash even took the field, he took a few photos with some lucky winners from our new fan club, the Boys in Blue, during a VIP meet & greet. A meet & greet that I myself would have loved to win, especially in the days of Guns ‘N Roses. Speaking of which, when I mentioned that Mr. Hudson was performing the anthem to a friend, he reminded me of another ‘cover song’ favorite performed on the Guitar and thanks to the magic of YouTube, I can share that with you now.

I can only imagine the former lead guitarist for one of the biggest rock bands of all time is used to the pre-show photo ops and I also imagine the 10 lucky winners from the Boys in Blue were a little tamer than what he’s used to. But the man knows how to meet & greet and made a few lucky fans feel VIP…and one Marketing Director.

Nice to hear about the 10 lucky winners from The Boys In Blue and the rock star!
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How about adressing the issue of the majority of the fans that have to continue to deal with the punks/drunks that make it so
many don’t want to bring their famalies there.
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Maybe instead of cracking down on these idiots/bullies Frank could capitalize on the issue & sell Jungletown section seats.
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For only $99 you get 2 tix to the Jungletown section complete with 2 blue & white striped (Prisoner type) striped shirts as well as before the bottom of the 8th inning hire Slash to play Welcome To The Jungle while standing inthe middle of the section and giving them all free beer to throw at one another! Also they can all fight with each other.
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Sorry to both Josh’s. I do appreciate your insight but I’m going to continue to bang this drum until there is some real action taken.
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Frank – take the challenge…
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Don’t just show up and adresss the pretty events – stand up
and adress the ugly ones and do something about them!!!
a

Right on Collie.
I am sick of all of the revenue enhancement BS on this site.
We seemed to have some pretty good teams when O’Malley ran this club and just had a couple of discreet Union 76 ads showing, not every square inch of the stadium plastered with commercials like the McCourts are so fond of.
Why not mention the drunk that had the crap kicked out of him by the Dodger Stadium security police? And all the abuse heaped on regular fans by the drunken, crazy ******* in the stands?
Why don’t you work to prevent people from using StubHub and other places from scalping tickets? Paying $200 for a ticket to see the Yankees in the upper deck next to Emma who pays $4 per game for her season ticket is ridiculous and if sold by some guy on Stadium Way would be criminal.

StubHub can be a bane and a boon. For high profile events, you’ll pay an arm and leg, but will get your foot in the door if you couldn’t otherwise. For regular games, you can get good deals on seats from people who had the tickets, but couldn’t attend the game (or wanted to make a return on their investment), and would let… say… $30ish tickets go for $20ish. Sponsored by the MLB, unlike the scalpers on the way up the hill. And “anti-fraud” protection, whatever that means. Cavaet Emptor indeed, but there’s some good in there.

What will happen first: Addressing of the Security issues at Dodger Stadium or ITDFST going to 1 hour?

You are right NSB. The market usually determines the ticket price. I don’t mind if some guy wants to get his money back on a few games that he can’t attend. I just don’t like the idea of some businessmen buying up a whole block of tickets for the express purpose of reselling them at inflated prices.

Funny you pulled that article NSB… I work 2.3 miles from San Quentin. Also last year my Petaluma team was going to play them but we didn’t get our act together in time. They wanted our personal information and some of the guys on
my team were not wanting to give it. Made me go hmmmmm…!

Very interesting reading today. I really hope Mr. McCourt takes what we are saying and, really does do something about it. It was promised last year when the problems were mentioned but, nothing has happened to ease tthe fears of some patrons.
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Nellyjune ~ Tthe Giants are going to fume about the Rowand beaning until we see them again. Good for them, concentrate on revenge and not on blaying ball! To me, if Padilla resally wanted to hit one of their players, I doubt he would have picked Rowand. And, if they think it’s a good idea to hit OUR ANDRE, THEY BETTER BE PREPARED FOR WAR!!!!!

32and53fan, thanks for the link to comments about the Dodger Stadium experience. I have attended many games at Dodger Stadium since it opened in 1962 and for the most part, my experiences have been positive. Yes, getting to the games on weekdays is a bit of a hassle and sometimes getting out of the parking lot can be a problem. I also think that while most of the fans seem to know what is going on, many are there for the food and the beach balls. I cannot stand the wave but I despise the beach balls! I have been booed for tossing a beach ball over the rail just to get it out of the section. The ushers don’t even seem to try anymore to intercept those darn things and when they do, they get booed. I have a great idea for our so called cash strapped owner: When the Dodgers are on the road, open up the stadium on weekends for people to come and toss beachballs around the stadium and do the wave. Sell these folks Dodger Dogs and beer, play some hard core videos on the big screen so maybe these idiots will stay away on game days so the rest of us can watch the game without the distractions.

Seriously, however, I must say the references to “Latino” gang types mentioned in the article does disturb me. It is obvious the Dodgers draw a lot of Latino fans and it would be unfortunate if they have to suffer as a group because of a few knuckleheads that cause problems. If this really is a problem, whatever extra or effective security costs the Dodgers, it will be money well spent to ensure all fans can have a positive experience attending games at the stadium.

32and53fan – very good article about the ballpark. I saw a very similar phrase mentioned many times throughout the many different views of Dodger Stadium………………… “a gang presence”. Ummmm…………….not a good thing at all to be known for…………it does make us sound like the Oakland Colliseum. I also can empathize with the views of those who said that they felt intimidated if they were fans from the opposing team. I can see to a point, all fans of opposing teams feeling somewhat intimidated by just being at the home ballpark of the team you are playing, but this I think goes above and beyond that kind of intimidation.

I am not here saying all my experiences there have been bad, but I have always had a harder time enjoying the games when there were fans from the other team sitting around us (or right by us in the case with my family) and those fans just feeling intimidated “in a bad way” for even getting up out of their seats or cheering for their team.

I said this in my last post about this topic, but those of us who have to live amongst the majority of fans from an opposing team, it’s kind of hard to hear over and over again how bad our fans are treating them. I am not a Giants fan by any means, but I do happen to like (and love) alot of people that are Giants fans (I try not to hold their allegiance to that team against them), and you want to hear them say…………”Even though you are a Dodger fan, it was awesome to go to Dodger Stadium because the fans were great to us”………or if something were to transpire, you would like them to say…………..”such and such happened, but the matter was taken care of immediately, and everyone continued on and enjoyed the game.”

Reading all the great comments from Collie, Northstateblues and 32and53 fan has me all bugged again. I just wish it bugged Frank as it seems to bug most of us.

One more thing…………….the reason why I came on here. I was on my way home listening to the gnat fans complain about losing the series to the Dodgers. BTW – great day at school………………..not only was I able to brag about the Dodgers, but Denny Hamlin won his NASCAR race today. I have many at school who are Jimmie Johnson (sorry Eric,and yes, I know…………200 yards or more, he would have had him………….Denny knows that too – LOL!!) and Jeff Gordon fans. Anyhow, those of you who know, Razor and Mr. T from KNBR (it was just Mr. T today) and callers were talking about the Padilla/Rowan incident, and they were talking about who, in retaliation, they suggest the Giants go after, and Mr. T offered the suggestion of Ethier. His reasoning for that is because Andre usually bats incredibly well against the Giants, both at Dodger Stadium and AT&T Park, and that out of all the power hitters in the lineup, he would be the least likely to come after them because he seems like such a good guy and went on to repeat he just kills us with his bat. They thought Manny would have too much hardware on and whoever pitched would end up hitting an elbow pad, etc, causing no reaction, and I am guessing they thought Matt would actually come after them. He did have that altercation with Torrealba a couple years back. However, don’t they know it wouldn’t be just Matt going after them, they would have Riahnna’s entourage going after them too – LOL!!

Well, I don’t think they know what Andre is capable of if he puts his mind to it, nor have they seen him break bats and batting helmets in the dugout. I think of it as a fabulous compliment but also as a warning to our beloved Andre. You have about 70 days to brace yourself for a possible retaliation the next time our two teams meet.

Collie: I don’t know if I could stand in the batters’ box facing a guy who murdered his wife with an aluminum bat. That’s gotta take some stones.

Thanks for the link to the fan comments, 32and53fan. Like Lbirken, I’m bothered by the “Latino thug” comments some of those commenters threw around, they were in the minority, though. As a … well, since there’s so many labels, I’ll just say As a member of one of the races that had the most questions on the 2010 Census, I feel bugged by the racially-tinged comments because I’ve seen all colors of the rainbow harass not only opposing teams’ fans, but fellow Dodger fans as well for “not wearing your blue”. But for the most part, I think we should print that out on hard copy and mail it to McCourt’s doorstep.

Nelly: I pity “Mr. T” when the REAL Mr. T hears the jibba jabba that fake foo’ has been spouting in his name. If they’re gonna take out their sawed-off (yeah, I said it) rage on the Dodgers, they BETTER do it in their own house… because unfortunately, at Dodger Stadium, they might start a riot.

Speaking of riots, here’s the 1984 Padres and Braves going at it. Good times.

Josh-You cut the slash solo too soon!
This home stand has been really positive. 2 of 3 from NL west rivals. Hitting was good. Padilla earned his weekly pay. Kershaw is growing big. Russ Ortiz is gone! and that was a hollywood homer by Manny! I am thinking about kou and belisario coming back, and all my Dodger dreams are good.

Nelly — It’s funny to listen to KNBR. This morning Kruk was going back on what he had said during the game. He said this morning that he felt that Padilla’s pitch to Rowand wasn’t intentional and that he has a responsibility to the kids listening to the game to not be a bad example to them. Or he said something like that. It was such a step back from what he said during the game. I was wondering if they got some feedback and told him to chill out.
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Also it’s funny to hear them whine that they were basically robbed by the Sunday loss and should of won the game. That they outplayed the Dodgers in all aspects of the game and outscored them in the series. That they had the game won and 1 bad pitch cost them. Umm… one bad pitch cost Kershaw.
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They were also all over Bochy for his moves and who he had relieving and pitching to Manny. Well in my book Manny was 0-2 with 2 K’s against the guy, so he had the correct guy pitching to Manny. As I’ve said about Torre with some of the moves that he makes that are questioned, that’s baseball. Sometimes you have to tip you cap to the guy and give him credit. They should be giving Manny credit. He wasn’t lucky and neither were the Dodgers. They made the plays to win the game and the Giants didn’t.
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Their fans seem to have this sense of entitlement and I think much of it is due to Kruk.

Nice posts everybody.
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Birk — when I had my incident in Sept. ’08 it was due to the beachballs. They were everywhere in our section and the game was going on and all these people are standing up in front of me, blocking my view of the game and looking back towards the back of the section not even watching the game yelling for the beach ball.
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They were more into the stupid vinyl ball than the game. It would be no big deal if it was for a few minutes but these people were doing this the whole game! The family next to us would catch the balls and pop them or give them to the usher. I had a ball land on me and gave it to the family who was eliminating them which they did.
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Well that was it. I had 5-10 people trying to “throw” with us. Most of them based on their ink work looked as if they were in a gang and had done time.
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It made me think maybe we should issue beach balls to the prison inmates and see if that keeps them happy.
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I won’t go into detail but it got so bad that we were sitting there with our backs turned to these idiots trying to watch the game as they were threatening to beat us. Tough to enjoy a game with that going on.
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Wifey has told me she never wants to go back. We haven’t…

Collie – I was listening to Kruk also this morning. The part I heard was the part where he was talking about whether Bochey made the right call or not. Like you said, it was the right call for Romo to pitch. Romo just threw the wrong pitch…..one Manny was waiting for – LOL!!!!

I agree NSB with the “Latino Thug” comments. I’ve seen things my last few times there and the people who were idiots were of many races. Some looked like me & some didn’t. In my incident that time, the ones who were coming at us were from that demographic. But the issue doesn’t have anything to do with race. It’s about respect of others.

Man am I disappointed! I thought that “Inside the Dodgers”, the highly rated MLBlog was some kind of expose of the Dodgers or something. Like I heard that Manny likes to sleep in Scooby-Doo footy pajamas and his wife is into it too. And that Vin Scully is a vampire. And that Tommy Lasorda is a Zombie.
And that the reason that the Dodgers can’t get into the World Series is because the owners are secretly sex slaves to George Steinbrenner and his sons, who won’t let them go to the World Series until they find the Fountain of Youth and use the elixir from the Fountain to keep George S. alive indefinitely.

So Slash is worshipping the “Boys In Blue”? Is that a gay thing or is he a cop-lover of some kind? I know lots of people are turned on by uniforms, but that is ridiculous!

Well, maybe some other Dodgers blog will answer these and many other questions. This one obviously won’t.

NSB – I didn’t see your comment up there about Mr. T. – I am sure the real Mr. T would think that way – LOL!!! I am usually listening to those two (Razor and Mr. T) on my way home most days and they are the most tolerable out of the Bay Area radio talk show hosts.

LMAO!!! The best part Collie is they thought last week by playing the Braves they were playing a “real” team while we were getting beat by the Pirates and the Marlins. I am not sure what you call the Padres, but I am not thinking they are a “real” team either. This division is going to be one crazy one to watch.

It was the wrong pitch and everybody in the baseball world seemed to know Manny was looking for that pitch, but they are still insisting they should have won the game. Get over it already!!! That and the whole Padilla thing. I can’t believe they are still talking about that 3 days later. Once again, get over it!! I can see there being some suspicion of what happened, but you have to admit, even if it was, Rowand’s stance is so funky that up and in would have hit him regardless because he is practically standing over the plate with that batting stance.

I have to give credit to my friend Tony on that one. He’s an A’s fan & calls the Giants the Garlic Fry’s. LOL!!!!
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They are also still talking about how they need to hit Blake for him mocking Wilson last year. Even after Blake apologized to Wilson after it came out why he did the celebration at the end of games. Blake was showing up Wilson because he thought Wilson was showing up other teams/players.
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You don’t hit people every time your upset. I’m all for knocking a guy down or putting one in his rump but they are acting like little babies because they haven’t won anything. & of all the players who deserved one in his rump would be their beloved Bonds. I guess there is a joke in there but I’ll leave that for someone else.. Bear, Enchanted, Wally…

Most A’s fans are pretty fed up with the Giant whiners. My friend loves it when they blame the A’s for all of Zito’s problems, which seem to be subsiding some. Her response is, “he was pitching great when he was with us. You all ruined him!!”

One of my friends who is an A’s fan calls him Zero. Another who is a Giants fan calls him Beato.
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I have a couple of A’s friends who know him pretty well and really like him and think he’s a great guy. One of them got an autograph for me on a ball. He seems like he is ok for a Giant. He does have the organization for troops which is pretty cool.

I don’t go to the stadium mainly because I can’t afford it. Whenever I have been there, I have not personally been assaulted or anything like that. (I was messed with at Candlestick Park when I was nine years old. I was in a toilet stall and when I looked up, two older kids were looking down at me from the top. When I got up, another kid climbed underneath to get in the stall behind me to mess with me.) I have been within earshot of some pretty nasty fans and have had food dropped on me from the rows above. Bullies and the like of them just really push my buttons. The last place I want to deal with those people is at a Dodger game.
I am happy to just stay home and see the game on TV. I did enjoy the ITD tour and game last year but my main reason for going was to see the behind the scenes areas and to check out the changes in the stadium. I was privileged to sit next to OBF the whole game and was surprised that Frank McCourt came right to his seat during the game to say hello.

Good Morning. since the Dodgers weren’t playing yesterday, I had the unfortunate task of watching the Giants Game. During the pre-game show, the beaning of Rowand was brought up, yet once again. It’s odd to me that the Giants players feel it was unintentional….but, the fans and Krukow cannot let it go.

Good Morning Everyone……………
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Man it is raining good in Nor Cal today. I just checked the weather for Cincy and it says 68% and partly sunny, so that is good.
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Bills trots out to the mound this evening and his counterpart will be Homer Baily…..This is game 31 on this road stand, so let’s get off to flying start.
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I hope everyone is having a wonderful day today and will be able to enjoy the game this evening.
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LET’S GO DODGERS, LETS GO!!!
BRING THE RING TO THE RAVINE!!!!!!!!!!
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WE ARE CHEERING LOUD AND PROUD BOY’S…..TAKE A MENTAL NOTE AND BRING IT!!!!!!!!!!

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